
1919 















1315 

GEOLOGICAL REPORT 


ON 



Prepared and Compiled by 

W. M. GRANT 

OIL GEOLOGIST 


Copyright September 1919 
by 

JACKSBORO CHAMBER of COMMERCE 


Gazette Print, Jacksboro, Texas 










PUBLISHER’S NOTE. 

Jack County, Texas, is geographically located in 
the center of the Pennsylvanian formation of North 
Texas, as shown on the U. S. Government geological 
map. The U. S. Government some twenty years ago 
made a geological report on Jack County, and at 
that time reported that Jack County contained the 
most favorable oil structure of any County of North 
Texas. About eight years ago, one of the large oil 
companies of Bakersfield, California, sent a geolo¬ 
gist to Jack County to check up the Government 
geologist. His report was substantially the same as 
that of the Government. 

The north central part of Jack County has pro¬ 
duced oil from shallow depths and in small quanti¬ 
ties for several years. A small refinery was built 
and refined the oil from these wells for some time. 
The oil as it came from the wells was of an exceed¬ 
ingly high grade, and sold at the well from $7.00 to 
$10.00 per barrel. The producing area became in¬ 
volved in litigation and has been closed down for 
the past five years, and it was only when oil at great 
depth and in large volumes was discovered in ad¬ 
joining counties that the oil industry in Jack County 
was revived. The following wells are now in proc¬ 
ess of sinking: 

Mackenzie, J. W. Knox No. 1, lo¬ 
cated on the famous Knox Terrace 
near the center of the Patrick Os¬ 
born Survey 2% miles east of Jacks- 
boro; drilling at 1010 feet. 

Bennett Oil Corporation, J. W. 

2 


Knox No. 1, also located on the Knox 
Terrace near the center of the Eli¬ 
sha T. Robinson Survey, 4% miles 
southeast of Jacksboro; shut down 
awaiting the arrival of tools. 

Cosden Oil & Gas Co., Victor 
Stewart No. 1, northwest corner 
Texas Immigration & Land Co. Sur¬ 
vey No. 2783, 15 miles northwest of 
Jacksboro; drilling around 2650 
feet. 

Cosden Oil & Gas Co., Cherry- 
homes No. 1, northeast corner of Ir¬ 
win Survey, fourteen miles north¬ 
east of Jacksboro; casing set at 3640 
feet and drilling around 3840 feet in 
black shale. 

Southern States Oil Co., Cherry- 
homes No. 1, center of G. & B. N. 
Survey No. 4, 8 miles east of Jacks¬ 
boro; drilling around 1350 feet. 

Hutson & Jackson, Lindsey Es¬ 
tate No. 1, southeast corner of Isaac 
N. Wright 640-acre Survey, 8% miles 

3 : 


north of Jacksboro; shut down at 
1010 feet. 

Frontier Oil & Gas Co., David 
Lindsey No. 1, west central part of 
Isaac N. Wright 1420-acre Survey, 
9 miles north of Jacksboro; derrick 
completed; awaiting arrival of 
tools. 

S. B. Felt, Dr. J. Younger No. 1, 
south of Wood County School Land 
Survey, 14 miles north of Jacksboro; 
drilling around 1300 feet. 

Great Plains Oil & Gas Co.,Green 
Bros. No. 1, southwest corner T. E. & 
L. Co. Survey No. 2730,12 miles south 
of Jacksboro; 1970 feet, closed down 
pending readjustment of drilling 
contract. 

Sapulpa Refining Co. and Rox¬ 
ana Petroleum Co. of Oklahoma, 
Mrs. Elinor Oliver No. 1, center of 
Thos. Kane Survey, 4% miles south¬ 
west of Jacksboro; 15% inch casing 
set and drilling around 950 feet. 

At this writing, September 15th, 1919 r the Sin- 


clair well, known locally as the Holt well, located in 
Palo Pinto County four miles south of the Jack 
County line, is producing some fifty barrels of oil 
and about two million feet of gas every twenty-four 
hours. This well is down 4160 feet and they have 
penetrated the black lime only about thirty feet. 
They are today drilling this well in and will proba¬ 
bly shoot it, at which time it is believed it will come 
in for a very large flow. The bringing in of this 
well tends to prove up the southern part of Jack 
County. 

The Cosden Oil & Gas Co., drilling what is local¬ 
ly known as the Cherryhomes No. 1, fourteen miles 
northeast of Jacksboro, reached the grey lime at a 
depth of 3580 feet. After penetrating this lime for 
a distance of ninety feet, they encountered the black 
shale, and have drilled into that some 170 feet, reach¬ 
ing their present depth of 3840 feet. According to 
the geologists, this black shale overlies the black 
limestone, or the point at which oil is to be expected 
in paying quantities. Therefore it is believed that 
the black lime, or the oil-bearing stratum, will be 
reached within the next week or ten days, providing 
no drilling troubles are experienced. 

In four of the adjoining Counties to Jack Coun¬ 
ty, production is now being obtained, and to date, 
only one well has been sunk in Jack County to a 
depth where production should be expected. That is 
the Cosden well, which has reached a depth of 3840 
feet. 

While all the large oil companies of Texas have 
considerable holdings in Jack County, there still re¬ 
mains quite a lot of available acreage for leasing and 
development, and this is rapidly changing hands. 

To produce oil is of course one important mat- 


ter to the producer, but to sell it is the MOST impor¬ 
tant, and to do that requires transportation facilities. 
In this connection Jack County is most fortunate, in 
fact, more so than most of the oil producing counties 
of North Texas, for Jack County has three main pipe 
lines traversing it. The Prairie Oil Co. has two pipe 
lines running from Ranger to refineries in Oklahoma, 
and the Sinclair Oil Co. has one main line running 
almost through the center of Jack County up into 
Oklahoma, with connections from there to Chicago. 
As soon as the wells in Jack County are brought in, 
they will immediately be connected with one or the 
other of these three lines and their production rap¬ 
idly disposed of. 


6 


GENERAL GEOLOGY. 

By W. M. Grant, Geologist. 

The rocks appearing at the sur¬ 
face throughout the major portion 
of Jack County are of Pennsylvani¬ 
an age or Coal Measures. In Texas, 
the Pennsylvanian formation is 
divided into three major divisions, 
these being, from the bottom up¬ 
ward, the Strawn, the Canyon, and 
the Cisco. In the southeastern cor¬ 
ner of Jack County, the Strawn 
formation is present, and overlap¬ 
ping this, in an area forming a tri¬ 
angle about six miles on the side in 
the extreme southeastern corner of 
the County, lies the Trinity sand of 
Cretaceous age. The Canyon forma¬ 
tion crosses Jack County in a north¬ 
easterly direction, forming a belt 
some fifteen miles wide. The north¬ 
west one-third of the County is oc¬ 
cupied by the Cisco formation. The 


Pennsylvania series in Jack County, 
as in all the neighboring counties, 
has in general a monoclinal struct¬ 
ure dipping to the northwest at an 
average rate of 60 to 70 feet per mile. 
Underlying the Pennsylvanian for¬ 
mation is the Mississippian, or as it 
is locally termed, the Bend series, 
the chief members of which are the 
Smithwick shale and the Bend or 
Marble Falls limestone. 

In Stephens, Eastland and Co¬ 
manche Counties, the productive 
horizon is the Bend limestone, while 
in the Burkburnett Field the pro¬ 
ductive horizon is near the top of 
the Cisco or the bottom of the Per¬ 
mian formations. Inasmuch as the 
upper members of the Cisco are not 
present in Jack County, it will be 
impossible to get the horizon of 
Burkburnett Field in this County, 
and it follows that the County must 
look to the Bend formation as the 
most likely source of its oil. 


Throughout North Central Tex¬ 
as, in those regions where sufficient 
drilling has been done to enable ac¬ 
curate data to be compiled, it has 
been found that the Pennsylvanian 
formations lie unconformablyonthe 
Mississippian, in general the Penn¬ 
sylvanian having a dip to the north¬ 
westward of approximately 40 feet 
per mile in excess of that of the Mis- 
sippian. 

In order that oil may accumulate 
in a given area in paying quantities, 
it is necessary that there shall exist 
a reservoir of sufficient size and of 
such a shape that the oil may accu¬ 
mulate therein without chance of 
escape. Since oil is lighter than wa¬ 
ter, it is always found that such ac¬ 
cumulation takes place in a porous 
stratum which is capped by an im¬ 
pervious stratum folded into the 
shape of a dome, an anticline or a 
flat terrace. A structure for the ac¬ 
cumulation of oil has nearly always 

9 


a point or a line from which the over¬ 
lapping impervious stratum dips 
downward in all directions. 

It is the object of geologists to 
locate such structures. Inasmuch 
as the Pennsylvania formations are 
not conformable with the Bend, that 
is to say, since the strata of both are 
not parallel to each other, it first ap¬ 
peared in the early stages of the 
Central Texas fields that the struct¬ 
ural requirements of a reservoir for 
oil as mentioned above were not ful¬ 
filled in this field; but subsequent 
work developed that these require¬ 
ments were fulfilled in the Bend. 
Where an anticline was shown to ex¬ 
ist in the Bend by drilling, it was 
found, that the Pennsylvanian for¬ 
mation at the surface showed a 
plunging anticline or nose which of 
itself would not have been a proper 
structure, but which served as an 
index to what existed in the under¬ 
lying Bend formation. Since these 


observations were made, and since 
the relation between the Pennsylva¬ 
nian and Mississippian formations 
has been better understood, such 
structures as noses, plunging anti¬ 
clines, and terraces have been eager¬ 
ly sought by geologists because it is 
recognized that in most instances 
these are indices of far more perfect 
structures in the underlying Bend 
formation. 

Where the dip of the Pennsylva¬ 
nian formation to the westward 
exceeds that of the Mississippian by 
60 feet per mile, it can be readily 
understood that where the Pennsyl¬ 
vanian is found to be level the un¬ 
derlying Mississippian rocks must 
have a reverse dip to the eastward 
of 60 feet to the mile. Similarly, 
when a plunging anticline or nose 
is observed which locally reduces 
the dip to less than 60 feet per mile, 
the reverse dip of the underlying 
Bend must be the difference between 


60 feet per mile and the observed 
dip of the Pennsylvanian. 

In addition to local structures 
that exist in both the Pennsylvani¬ 
an and Bend formations, drilling 
has disclosed the fact that there ex¬ 
ist in the Bend formation itself sev¬ 
eral major structures, these being 
areas of elevation and depression of 
a considerable extent. There exists 
one of these major uplifts under a 
large part of Stephens and Eastland 
Counties, and this major uplift is 
bounded on the northeast by a great 
depression or geo-syncline extend¬ 
ing through Palo Pinto and Young' 
Counties. The probability of heavy 
production in Jack County would 
be greatly influenced by whether or 
not there existed another major up¬ 
lift under Jack County, or whether 
the great depression existing in 
Palo Pinto and Young Counties ex¬ 
tended eastward far enough to in¬ 
clude Jack County. Only drilling 
12 


could disclose this, but fortunately 
one well,—the Cherryhomes No. 1 of 
the Cosden Oil and Gas Co. near 
Cundiff,in JackCounty,—has reach¬ 
ed the Smithwick shale at a depth of 
3240 feet. This formation is accu¬ 
rately identified by fossils observed 
in pieces of rock removed from the 
well. In no well in the State has the 
Smithwick shale been found more 
than 600 feet thick which would lead 
to the belief that the Bend limestone 
would be struck at approximately 
3800 feet. From 100 to 150 feet above 
the Bend limestone there is often 
found a limestone 10-30 feet thick 
known as the “floating lime.” Such 
a limestone has just been drilled 
through at the moment of writing 
which bears out the belief that 
the Bend limestone will be struck 
at a depth of approximately 
3800-3900 feet. The depth at which 
this lime was struck indicates a cer¬ 
tain rise of 1,500 feet in the lime 


between the south line of JackCoun- 
ty and the Cherryhomes well. Until 
further drilling- is completed, it will 
be impossible to define the shape or 
extent of this major uplift. 

LOCAL STRUCTURES: 

Realizing that a study of local 
structures, whether they be plung¬ 
ing anticlines or terraces, has been 
of the greatest assistance in the lo¬ 
cation of productive wells in Ste¬ 
phens and Eastland Counties, it 
becomes of interest to know whether 
or not such local structures exist in 
Jack County, and if so, their posi¬ 
tion, shape and extent. 

One of the most striking and fa¬ 
vorable looking structures in Jack 
County is a great terrace located on 
the ranch of J. W. Knox and there¬ 
fore known as the Knox Terrace. 
This structure consists of a broad 
terrace some four miles long and 
one mile wide, which is closed on 

14 


the north and east by a 
plunging anticline, and which 
on the southwest is closed by 
a steep plunging syncline. North¬ 
west of this terrace the Penn¬ 
sylvania rocks have an average dip 
of 70 feet to the mile. Near the ends 
of the terrace the dip flattens out to 
15 feet to the mile, while in the cen¬ 
ter of the terrace careful leveling 
between two water wells drilled % 
of a mile apart show a reverse dip to 
the eastward of six inches in % of a 
mile. Should the relation between 
the Pennsylvanian and Bend forma¬ 
tions that exists in other parts of the 
State, continue to exist in this re¬ 
gion,—and there is no reason to 
doubt that it does,—it follows that 
this great terrace is an indication of 
a marked reverse dip in the Bend 
formation underneath it, and if so, 
would indicate the existence of a 
dome in the Bend limestone cover¬ 
ing several thousand acres. This 

15 



structure is now being tested out by 
D. McKenzie’s Knox No. 1 Well. 

On the east of this terrace and 
connected with it at the point of 
least dip, there exists a large plung¬ 
ing anticline or nose having a dip to 
the northeast, northwest and west 
of 20 feet to the mile. Because of the 
connection and close proximity of 
this great nose to the Knox terrace, 
it is probable that these two struct¬ 
ures are connected and become one 
at the depth of the Bend limestone. 
The eastern end of this structure is 
being tested by the Bennett Oil Cor¬ 
poration. 

Six miles southeast of the Knox 
Terrace, on an axis starting one 
mile west of Vineyard on the rail¬ 
road and running north 30 deg. west, 
there exists a large gentle nose some 
three miles long and three miles 
wide, the average dip of which is 40 
feet to the mile. This is bounded on 
the southwest by a plunging syn- 


dine, the axis of which closely fol¬ 
lows the Rock Island Railroad as 
far west as a point one mile south¬ 
east of Stewarton station. South¬ 
west of this plunging syncline about 
a mile and a half, there exists a sec¬ 
ond syncline, the two being separat¬ 
ed by a nose a mile long and one-half 
mile wide, the average dip on the 
crest of the nose being about 25 feet 
per mile. Northwest of these three 
structures about 3% miles, at the in¬ 
tersection of the G. T. & W. and 
Rock Island Railroads, there exists 
a narrow plunging syncline, this be¬ 
ing the structure which terminates 
the Knox Terrace at its southwest 
end. 

Nine miles north of Jacksboro, 
at Avis, there exist two pronounced 
adjoining structures, one being a 
dome having a reverse dip of some 
twenty feet, and the other being 
flat top plunging anticline. These 
two structures are separated by a 

17 


marked plunging syneline which 
starts due east of the northeastern 
structure or dome and swings about 
the center of the northeastern nose 
with a radius of one mile until the 
direction of the axis of the plunging 
syncline is northwest. The total 
area of the northeastern structure 
is approximately 2500 acres, of 
which 1000 acres are included in 
closed structure contours. The area 
of the southwestern nose is proba¬ 
bly 2500 acres. 

Just southeast of this structure 
exists an area of some 200 acres up¬ 
on which many shallow wells 90 to 
120 feet deep have been drilled in the 
past and from which oil has been ta¬ 
ken over a period of twenty-five 
years. The oil taken from this area 
is of the highest quality, but seems 
confined to a very thin sand and the 
wells themselves have at no time had 
more than a few barrels per day pro¬ 
duction. It is commonly thought 
18 


that the source of this oil is the Bend 
limestone or some lower member of 
the Pennsylvania rocks, and that 
this oil has risen along a joint crack 
and has accumulated in its present 
position Throughout Jack County 
there exist numerous places where 
shallow wells have produced small 
quantities of oil, and it is possible 
that these small accumulations of 
oil represent seepages from larger 
horizons below. 

Northeast of Jacksboro five 
miles, on the River Road, there ex¬ 
ists a gentle plunging anticline 
bounded on the southwest by a small 
syncline. This anticline is probably 
a northwest extension of that pro¬ 
nounced nose which closes the north 
end of the Knox Terrace. 

Northwest of Jacksboro there 
exists a strip of country running 
northeast-southwest for ten miles 
and being ten or twelve miles wide, 
which has a monoclinal dip to 

19 


the northwest of 45 to 50 feet per 
mile. 

Southeast of Jacksboro there ex- 
ists a strip of country about three 
miles wide and ten miles long, run¬ 
ning northeast-southwest and ex¬ 
tending to the Knox Terrace, and 
which has an average dip to the 
northwest of 70 feet per mile. 

In the Cundiff District, at the lo¬ 
cation of theCherryhomesNo.l well, 
the average rate of dip is 60 feet 
per mile to the northwest. South¬ 
west of Cundiff, near the Hamilton 
Farm, there exists a pronounced 
nose one and one-half miles long 
and one-half mile wide, the average 
rate of dip on the crest of the nose 
being 35 feet to the mile. This nose 
is bounded on the south for a dis¬ 
tance of three miles by a plunging 
syncline, the axis of which closely 
coincides with the course of the 
Trinity River. Just west of this nose 
the Empire Oil & Gas Co. drilled a 


well approximately 3400 feet deep, 
but due to starting 1 the hole too 
small, were forced to abandon it 
above the point where production 
might have been expected. Three 
miles southeast of Cundiff, near the 
Charles Connor Farm, there exists a 
small nose of about 200 acres in ex¬ 
tent. 

Five miles southwest of Jaeksbo- 
ro, on the Barton Chapel Road, there 
exists a nose two miles long and one 
mile wide, the north end of this be¬ 
ing elevated to form a small dome. 
This is the site of the well being 
drilled by the Sapulpa Oil & Refin¬ 
ing Co. The axis of this nose differs 
materially from most of those in 
this country since it is slightly east 
of north. The nose is bounded on 
the east by a syncline, the axis of 
which strikes north 25 deg. east. 
Away from this nose, the average 
rate of clip of the surrounding coun¬ 
try is 60 feet per mile to the north- 
21 


west. Southwest of the Oliver loca¬ 
tion, some three miles distant, there 
exists a small nose which covers 
about three hundred acres, bounded 
on the northeast by a pronounced 
syncline. 

Several miles to the southward 
there exists an area extending from 
a point near Perrin to west of Finis, 
which exhibits a number of struct¬ 
ures and gives evidence of consider¬ 
able disturbance in the past. In this 
area the Caddo limestone makes an 
escarpment, affording a very good 
structure control. 

At Barton Chapel there exists an 
area of perhaps 1500 acres which 
would normally be considered as. a 
broad flat-top nose, being ai roost, 
level on top were it not for the fact 
that some eight faults, none of them 
having a throw of over thirty feet 
have split this nose into three major 
sections, none of which has a dip 
of over 15 feet per mile. ,This struct- 


ure is bounded on the northeast by a 
plunging syncline, the axis of which 
starts four miles northwest of Per¬ 
rin on the West Jacksboro Road at 
the Charles Hensley Farm, running 
thence due west until the Barton 
Chapel structure is reached, where 
it turns northwest to the M. M. Rog¬ 
ers Farm. This abnormally long 
syncline has caused a nose some four 
miles long to exist to the north of 
and parallel to it. The axis of this 
nose, striking as it does almost due 
west, is in marked contrast to the 
axis of the Sapulpa anticline three 
miles northward, which strikes east 
of north. 

Southwest of the Barton Chapel 
structure there exists a very broad, 
gentle syncline, whose axis strikes 
north 20 deg. west. Some five miles 
west of Barton Chapel and due west 
of the above mentioned syncline, an¬ 
other nose one mile wide and two 
miles long has an axis striking 

,'t O Q 


northwest. Southwest of this comes 
another gentle syncline, and south¬ 
west of that, at the town of Finis, ex¬ 
ists another broad and extensive 
nose, the dip of the crest of which is 
about 30 feet per mile. 

In general, there exist four good 
structures, each of considerable 
magnitude and separated by syn¬ 
clines, in a belt extending from a 
point five miles west of Perrin to Fi¬ 
nis. In the area immediately north¬ 
west of Perrin, there exists a very 
broad gentle nose, the axis of which 
strikes north 15 deg. west, and the 
dip of which approximates 35 feet 
per mile. No synclines bound this 
nose. One and one-half miles east 
of Perrin exists the overlap of the 
Cretaceous Trinity sand upon the 
Pennsylvanian formatio.n The line 
marking the westerly-most extent 
of the Trinity sand runs northeast 
from this point to a point one-half 
mile south of Joplin, thence in a 

24 


more northeasterly direction across 
the Henderson County School lands 
into Wise County at a point three 
miles south of the intersection of 
the Wise County line with the Rock 
Island railroad. 

The northwest one-third of Jack 
County offers very few structures of 
any magnitude. Extending south- 
westward from a point two miles 
northwest of the Avis structure is 
the outcrop of the Cisco Conglomer¬ 
ate, which forms a pronounced es¬ 
carpment. This escarpment disclos¬ 
es the presence of several minor 
folds, none of which are sufficiently 
pronounced to warrant attention. 

Starting at Bryson station and 
running due north to Jermyn, there 
exists a slight but fairly uniform 
folding of the structure contours, 
indicating a very long, narrow, 
slightly plunging anticline. North¬ 
east of Bryson three miles and east 
of the above mentioned anticline, a 

25 


noticeable structural depression 
starts and runs north some two 
miles, where it gradually plays out. 
West of the above mentioned anti¬ 
cline, and passing the Young Coun¬ 
ty line, there exists a slightly pitch¬ 
ing syncline running due north. 

In Clay and Archer Counties, just 
across the Jack County line, there 
exist two pronounced domes of sev¬ 
eral thousand acres extent. Parts 
of both of these domes overlap into 
Jack County, but the area of these 
structures included in the County is 
very small. 

From the above description, two 
main conclusions can be drawn— 

(1) As regards the major struct¬ 
ure in the Bend limestone, the evi¬ 
dence of the Cosden Oil & Gas Com¬ 
pany’s Cherryhomes No. 1 well, 
points toward a general uplift of 
the Bend under Jack County. This 
is the first and most necessary con¬ 
dition for heavy production to be 
26 


obtained in this County. 

(2) There exist within the Coun¬ 
ty many local structures, such as the 
Knox Terrace, giving promise of fa¬ 
vorable conditions for local accu¬ 
mulation of oil. These local struct¬ 
ures are fully equal in all respects to 
those which have been drilled and 
found productive in Stephens and 
Eastland Counties, and warrant the 
conclusion that many parts of Jack 
County fully justify the expendi¬ 
ture of drilling to the Bend lime¬ 
stone for the purpose of testing this 
area. 

W. M. GRANT. 


27 


1 


GEOLOGY AND LEASING IS THE BASIS 0? 
THE OIL INDUSTRY. 

As the prospectors and mining engineers are 
the pioneers of the mining industry, so the geologists 
are the combined prospectors and engineers of the 
oil industry. With one or two exceptions, ‘ all the 
larger companies and independent operators keep a 
corps of geologists in the field continuously search¬ 
ing for likely oil structures. As soon as a structure 
is discovered, it is mapped by the geological field 
force, a report is made to the company, and a 
“scout” or representative of the Land Department 
of the company is then sent out to lease the land 
covering the discovered structure. In this way, 
practically all the structures in the West Texas field 
have been located and leased, and available statistics 
show that to date, in the oil fields of North and 
West Texas, every structure which has been located 
by the geologists and drilled to a depth where pro¬ 
duction could be expected, has produced oil or gas. 

Under the leasing system which prevails in all 
of the oil States, a lease on the oil and gas rights is 
granted by the land-owner for a period of five years, 
or so long as oil or gas is produced in paying quan¬ 
tities, which virtually makes the lease perpetual if 
oil and gas is discovered. In addition to the initial 
payment or bonus, the lease usually provides for a 
nominal yearly rental of $1.00 per acre until a well 
28 


f . 

is commenced on the leased land, at which time the 
rental ceases. The lease also provides for a royalty 
of one-eighth of all the oil and gas produced, which 
is payable to the land-owner. 

As drilling operations commence and produc¬ 
tion is .obtained, the leases advance greatly in value, 
and in many instances in the North and West Texas 
fields, leases that were granted without any bonus or 
cash payment two years ago, have become enormous¬ 
ly valuable, in one instance a 200 acre lease selling 
for four million dollars cash, and there being many 
other instances on record of leases selling on a basis 
of from five to ten thousand dollars per acre. Many 
investors and speculators throughout the country 
who are not in any way connected with or conver¬ 
sant with the oil industry other than having bought 
some of these leases as a speculation, have made a 
great deal of money by purchasing leases which 
later proved tremendously valuable by reason of the 
drilling of wells and the discovery of oil on adjoin¬ 
ing or neighboring leases. In fact, as soon as a loca¬ 
tion for a well is made by a company or an independ¬ 
ent operator, the other companies and operators en¬ 
deavor to purchase a lease or leases as close as pos¬ 
sible to the drilling location; then if the well proves 
to be a producer, they commence drilling operations 
on their own leases, and in this way the field or the 
oil pool is rapidly developed. Thus, where a compa¬ 
ny or independent operator is spending from $50,- 
29 


000.00 to $100,000.00 to develop a structure, it 
appears to be good business for others to purchase 
neighboring leases on the structure, or as close as 
possible to the drilling well, and if oil to the amount 
of a thousand barrels per day is found in the well, 
the leases on the adjoining land for several miles 
distant usually advance in price from hundreds to 
thousands of dollars per acre, depending upon the 
proximity of the leases to the producing well. 

The Chamber of Commerce gives the above in¬ 
formation merely to show how the oil industry orig¬ 
inates and is conducted in the Texas oil fields. 


30 


Through the courtesy of the Cosden Oil & Gas 
Company, we publish below the log of the deepest 
well in Jack County, their Cherryhomes No. 1: 


Lime 

0 


Slate 

1065 


Slate 

12 


Sand 

1105 


Sand 

20 


Slate 

1115 


Slate 

60 


Sand 

1185 


Sand 

80 

Water 

Slate 

1195 


Slate 

95 


Lime 

1480 


Sand 

105 

Water 

Slate 

1485 


Slate 

175 


Lime 

1550 


Lime 

280 


Slate 

1750 


Red Rock 

290 


Lime 

2050 


Slate 

300 


Sand 

2055 

Water 

Lime 

315 


Slate 

2115 


Slate 

322 


Sand 

2350 


Sand 

412 

Water 

Slate 

2380 


Slate 

445 


Sand 

2480 


Lime 

545 


Slate 

2500 


Slate 

570 


Red Rock 

2550 


Red Rock 

650 


Lime 

2568 


Lime 

670 


Sand 

2570 

Water 

Sand 

675 


Slate 

2660 


Slate 

690 


Sand 

2680 

Water 

Sand 

715 

Water 

Slate (black) 2720 


Slate 

750 


Sand 

3185 

Water 

Sand 

820 

Water 

Slate 

3215 


Slate 

840 


Sand 

3275 

Water 

Sand 

910 


Black Shale 3300 


Slate 

915 


Sand 

3535 

Water 

Lime 

980 


Slate (black) 3550 


Slate 

985 


Brav lime 

3580 


Sand 

1040 


Slate 

3670 



31 









